Why your FinOps practice should be multi-cloud by default
The Importance of a Uniform FinOps Strategy
In today's evolving cloud landscape, organizations are onboarding workloads to the cloud. They might even start looking at new clouds to take advantage of the unique value of other cloud providers. If not now, then when? Therefore cloud governance must be prepared to adapt its cloud strategies to changing business requirements and technological advancements. As businesses increasingly rely on cloud services, it is essential to have a FinOps practice that is designed to handle multi-cloud environments, even if the organization is not currently utilizing multiple cloud providers. A uniform, multi-cloud-ready FinOps practice ensures that businesses can easily absorb a multi-cloud strategy when needed, allowing them to stay agile and competitive. In this blog post, we will explore five reasons why your FinOps practice should be designed with multi-cloud readiness in mind.
Future-Proofing Your FinOps Practice
Organizations must be prepared to adopt a multi-cloud strategy in the future, even if they are not currently using multiple cloud providers. By implementing a FinOps practice that is designed to handle multi-cloud environments, your organization will be well-equipped to handle the financial complexities that come with leveraging multiple cloud providers. This proactive approach will enable your organization to remain agile and competitive in an ever-changing technology landscape. It will stimulate your confidence to onboard cloud workloads to the cloud provider of choice as you can be assured your processes are well designed.
Uniform Processes and Governance
A multi-cloud-ready FinOps practice emphasizes uniform processes and governance across all cloud environments. This ensures that cost management, resource allocation, and performance monitoring are consistent, regardless of the cloud provider being used. A uniform approach reduces complexity, streamlines operations, and enables organizations to maintain greater control over their cloud spending. It acts like a power plug whatever device you put into the plug you are assured it will get powered consistently.
Improved Cost Transparency and Visibility
A mature and well-organised FinOps practice enables organizations to gain a better view of their cloud spending across all providers. This increased visibility allows businesses to identify inefficiencies, optimize costs, and make data-driven decisions about their cloud investments. It also simplifies the process of tracking and allocating expenses, making it easier for finance and IT teams to collaborate and manage cloud budgets effectively.
Enhanced Flexibility and Scalability
By having a multi-cloud-ready FinOps practice in place, organizations can more easily adopt new cloud services and scale their existing infrastructure as needed. This flexibility allows businesses to respond more quickly to market demands and take advantage of new technologies and services as they become available. A well-designed FinOps practice will help organizations maximize the benefits of their cloud investments while minimizing risks and costs.
Mitigating Vendor Lock-In and Risk
Developing a multi-cloud-ready practice can help organizations mitigate the risks associated with vendor lock-in. By having processes that can accommodate multiple providers, businesses can more easily switch providers or adopt new services as needed, without being overly reliant on a single vendor. This reduces the risk of being tied to a particular provider's pricing model, feature set, or service level agreements, and allows organizations to maintain greater control over their cloud strategy.
A FinOps process is not the same as an architecture choice or cloud strategy.
When you read this blog you might think. Ok, Stijn, I like your thinking however it is not as easy. I completely agree with that. The only purpose of this blog is to make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to create a FinOps practice in your company that takes into account the multi-cloud nature of many companies in the future. Maybe you don’t see the dot on the horizon just yet. It might influence your job earlier than you anticipated. So you better are prepared… right?
In conclusion,
a multi-cloud-ready FinOps practice is essential for organizations looking to stay agile and competitive in the ever-changing cloud landscape. By embracing uniformity of processes and preparing for the possibility of adopting a multi-cloud strategy, businesses can effectively manage their cloud spending, optimize costs, and unlock the full potential of their cloud investments.